Texts for reading, 9 Form

Texts for reading, 9 Form

Text 1

A British family has recently celebrated the birth of their 18th child. It was a girl and her brothers and sisters have welcomed their new sister. Her eldest brother is 26 and the parents already have two grandchildren. The family announced the birth of the child on their family website. They described the girl as “beautiful”. The family owns a bakery and hopes the children will take over the family business. It looks as if the era when the average British family would have only two or three children is over. In Britain there are more families with four children than anywhere else in Europe. Social scientists say that this is the result of immigration into the country of families from Asia and Africa.

Text 2

Everybody knows that our appearance matters in what people think about us. Appearance is important not only in a romantic relationship but also in politics. Appearance is not all about beauty. The moment we see a person our mind starts evaluating their personality according to their looks. What especially matters is the persons face. This means that the impression somebody’s face makes on others can cost the person his or her political career. When we vote for a candidate we think that we are weighing his or her personal qualities. In fact, we are examining their face. Research has shown that if a candidate’s appearance displays competence, power and leadership, but not beauty or good looks, it can cause a political victory or defeat. These findings are really important.

Text 3

There are some very rare occupations that may seem strange to somebody while in reality they are interesting and even tasty. One such profession is a chocolate engineer. When you hear the word “engineer” what comes up in your mind is perhaps heavy machinery. A chocolate engineer does not have anything to do with either machinery or the heavy equipment industry. Chocolate engineers design chocolates. This profession is chosen by those who love designing things, have a good imagination and a good sense of taste. The job of a chocolate engineer is to create an assortment of delicious chocolate recipes. They taste their products first. Another tasty occupation is a tea taster. Such specialists are very important in the tea industry because tea must be examined for quality.

Text 4

Small children can understand money. They get the idea that in order to buy something you have to pay for it. Also, they know that in order to have money you have to earn it. Of course, kids can’t earn their own money yet and that is why parents start giving pocket money to their children at a certain age. Apart from fun, pocket money can be a great tool for teaching children the art of budgeting, saving money and setting goals. Besides, children can be taught how to donate small sums to charity. In other words, pocket money can be used to teach small children decision-making but children should not be paid for obeying their parents or for helping them about the house.

Text 5

Mobile phones have become very popular and texting is taking the lead. In many situations sending text messages called SMS via the telephone is more preferable than emailing somebody. Unlike emails, SMS texts are delivered alerting the telephone owner to the arrival of a new message. Not many of us check their email on a regular basis while SMS texts have a sense of urgency and we must answer them at once. Besides, texting is used for personal contacts while emails are often the channel of business communication. A great advantage of SMS texts is that they can be sent from any location thanks to the mobile device in your pocket. You do not have to sit in front of a computer or carry a heavy laptop with you.

Text 6

One of the oldest schools in the world is a school in China. It was organized in the year 143 BC and it was the first Chinese public school. Soon after that the building of the school was destroyed in a fire but the school was rebuilt a couple of years later. This was not the end for the tests of life for this school. The school was destroyed by wars many times and only ruins remained but each time it was rebuilt again and again. It survived hurricanes and earthquakes, blizzards and storms. In the twentieth century it was called a model for secondary schools nationwide. For many Chinese students it is a great honour to study at that school. Would you like to study in such a school?

Text 7

The teaching profession has proved to be one of the most popular careers among school graduates in the UK. The choice was made out of 40 different professions on the list. About a third of the participants were interested in teaching. Other professions that generated interest included those of engineer, psychologist and artist. The medical profession was not as popular as last year and only 10% of those questioned expressed interest in being a doctor. Instead, journalism, police work and social service have risen in popularity. The girls’ preferences were teaching, psychology and social work while boys were more inclined to choose a technical walk of life. The majority of school leavers want to continue their studies in some way while some 10% will work.

Text 8

Traditional Russian souvenirs are popular all over the globe. The matryoshka is the best known gift from Russia. It is a set of painted wooden dolls of different sizes that are hidden one inside the other. In some rare cases there can be 50 dolls and even more. Traditionally these dolls are painted dressed in a Russian peasant dress with a headscarf. Khokhloma is another traditional Russian craft which originated in the 17th century near the city of Nizhny Novgorod. It is a style of painting on wooden dishes and on furniture. This beautiful and unique style can be recognized for its red and gold flowers on a dark background. Gzhel is yet another style of painting dishes and cups, clocks and lamps in blue and white.

Next 9

People who travel through the thick Brazilian jungle may arrive at a shocking place — a small American-style town with streets, houses, a police station and even a golf course. The difference is that here in the middle of the rainforest there are no people. Only monkeys jumping on the rooftops. The town was built in the ’20s and its inhabitants abandoned it in the 1940s. The famous car maker Henry Ford bought this land and wanted to build a factory there to produce rubber for his cars. The workers were moved there from Michigan. The rules of life in the town were very strict and the workers did not like it. Besides, the rubber production was very slow and the project failed.

Text 10

If you ask an adult about the most famous clown in the world, everyone will immediately remember their childhood and a circus arena with a comedian on it who can be both funny and sad. If you make a list of names then, perhaps, in the USA the entertainer called Bozo will be at the top of the list. One should know that more than one clown performed under that name. Many actors used to wear the same popular mask for their performance. There are popular clown names in different countries and the children admire their bright caps and baggy trousers, sense of humour, funny jokes, spectacular tricks and friendly personality. Nobody can imagine the circus without a clown making us laugh.